With the Soundwave festival blowing through town, we had a stack of sideshows (or sidewaves) to choose from, and there were some mighty fine choices. Dillinger Escape Plan always put on a good show, and with Poison The Well as the main support act, it was going to be a typical fist-thumping hardcore night.
Poison The Well were erratic (or perhaps it’s part of the act), but very good. A lot of these so-called ‘hardcore’ bands try too hard and it often comes off as seriously unconvincing and unintentionally funny (maybe we need a Spinal Tap-type film on hardcore). Rocking out at a hundred miles an hour, Poison The Well seemed to have over-indulged on Pepsi Max and played a flat out set with no real break for breath. But they certainly did display some really cranking riffage with tracks like Botchla, Prematurio El Baby and the awesome Letter Thing. Definitely a good fun band for a pre-school birthday party.
Of course if you want the real deal in hardcore, Dillinger Escape Plan are the only option. They’ve got genre labels such as experimental mathcore and metal core, but right here I can say that they rock, pure & simple.
They were stunning. How they can perform like that gig after gig shows how talented and serious they are, it really is a full-on assault – akin to boot-camp for moshpit wannabes. Hell, this gig was so high on energy, the Nine Inch Nails gig across the road at the Hordern suffered a power outage for 45 mins! This was no mere co-incidence brothers and sisters, but an unprecedented effort of earth-shattering proportions!
Dillinger Escape Plan simply lined up the songs and fired them off one after the other. They covered all 3 albums – Calculating Infinity, Miss Machine & Ire Works. With such a formidable arsenal of songs, they couldn’t put a foot (or riff) wrong. Highlights were numerous, with the likes of Panasonic Youth, Milk Lizard and Lurch. And what about Fix Your Face? On reflection that may have been the point when power cut out across at the Hordern. No surprise there.
This was a typical intense performance from Dillinger Escape Plan and they deserve full kudos for their entertaining music and rapid fire live shows. It was a display of integrity that they didn’t sacrifice a second of their performance, despite the onstage carnage. Well done lads!
